Theodobe dost



PATENT QFFICE,

UNITED STATES,

THEODORE DOST, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM WILKIN S, OFSAME PLACE, HERMAN H. GRAN E, G. ADOLPH SOHLEUS, AND LOUIS WILKINS,EXEOUTORS OF WM. WILKINS, DECEASED.

IMPROVEMENT IN. METHODS OF PREPARING BRISTLES FOR DYEING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 220,468, dated October14, 1879; application filed May 20, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE DosT, of Baltimore city, State of Maryland,have inyented a new and Improved Process of Manufacturing Bristles; andIdo hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexactdescription thereof.

My invention consists of an improvement in the process of dyeingbristles after they have been washed and straightened and made ready fordyeing; and that it may be more clearly understood, I will describe themanner in which the dyeinghas heretofore been done.

After the bristles havebeen cleaned, washed, and straightened in the.usual way and made ready for dyeing, they are placed with the butts onthe outside in concentric layers in round baskets until the basket isfilled, when it is covered with some suitable coarse fabric sewed to itsedge. The baskets are then placedin the dye-vats, and when the dyeing iscompleted the bristles are taken out, washed, laid on frames, and dried,when they become crooked, and have to be straightened again and combedbefore they are fit to be bundled. This process requires seven distinctmanipulat-ions, each occupying time and requiring labor: first, theplacing of the bristles in the basket; second, sewing on the cover;third, placing the baskets in the vats; fourth, washing the bristleswhen taken from the vats; fifth, spreading them on frames to dry; sixth,combing and straightening them aj seventh, placing them in bundles.During these successive manipulations at least ten per cent. of thebristles are lost.

By my improvement the bristles, instead of being placed on their sidesin the baskets, are placed on end in an iron box as deep as the bristlesare long, the sides of which are perforated for the free admission ofthe dye.

Two boxes are then put one on top ofthe other,

the bottom of the upper serving as a cover for the lower, and the up orone having an iron cover.

The two boxes, with the cover, being clamped together in any suitablemanner and putinto the dye-Va t, taken out, and placed in thedrying-room until the bristles are dried, when removed from the boxeswill be found to have each other, and ready to be bundled.

the cover of a basket; second, the removal of the bristles from thebasket; third, the spreading and drying of them on frames; fourth, thefinal combing and straighteningbeing four out of the seven manipulationsnow employed.

In the foregoing specification I have referred to an iron box; but theobject of my invention may be effected with willow boxes, which were thefirst boxes I used, wooden or wire; and I have spoken of two boxes and acoverclamped together; but three or more may be put together, with acover to the upperlnost.

I have also spoken of my invention as applied to keeping the bristlesstraight while being dyed; but it is applicable to straighteningbristles, whether white. gray, or any other color, which are notintended to be dyed.

Bristles, when first washed, are straightened on the sticks, to whichthey are bound for a time with twine, which leaves marks upon them; or,even when they are not so marked, they are not in all cases perfectlystraight.

.-If, when removed from the sticks, they are then placed in the boxesabove described, wetted and compressed, and then dried, allirregularities will be removed, and the bristles, when dried, will befound to be perfectly straight.

Also, I have described my invention where the bristles are placed onend; but they may be placed on their sides in the boxes, and the topmade to press them down sufficiently to keep them in the same contactwith each other aswhen placed on end, when the same object will beadcomplished, though I prefer standbeen kept straight by their pressureagainst In this way I save, first, the sewing on of as will retain themwhile being dried in contact with each other, by the means substantiallyhere described, for the purposes set forth.

THEODORE DOST In presence of- J. H. B. LATROBE, J12, GUsrAv SIEGMUND.

